The 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings

On the 21st of April 2019, Easter Sunday, a series of bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka took the lives of 359 people and wounded a further 500. Nine perpetrators were involved in the attacks and fifty have been arrested in connection with them. The group calling themselves National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) is thought to be responsible for the attacks. They are thought to have connections with Daesh. It was an international tragedy, and an act of terrorism and vengeance. Most of those killed were from Sri Lanka, but there were 41 foreigners among those dead, from 15 nations including India, Japan, Australia, the US and Denmark.

The bombings started at 8:45 AM local time. The attacks were planned and coordinated. The first attacks were four in number – in Colombo: Shrine of St. Anthony Church, Shangri-La Hotel, Kingsbury Hotel; in Negombo at St. Sebastian’s Church. The other bombings occurred as follows:

There are similarities between this chart and that of the Christchurch mosque shootings, for which these bombings were said to be revenge. The first similarity is that of the Gemini Ascendant in both cases, but on differing degrees. Both attackers wanted to make a statement (Gemini) and sow discord between various facets of society. The attackers in Sri Lanka had a very simple message, as claimed by Daesh: “This bloody day is our reward to you” – meaning, this was their retribution for the deaths in Christchurch at the mosques. They claimed further, that, “The perpetrators of the attack that targeted nationals of the crusader alliance [anti-IS US-led coalition] and Christians in Sri Lanka the day before yesterday were Islamic State fighters.”

The Descendant describes the nature of the perpetrators, with Sagittarius ruling and Jupiter as the ruler of the sign. The 6th ray is transmitted through Sagittarius, with Mars as its esoteric ruler, and the sign can be known for its fanaticism and heavy judicial nature in its lowest expression. In both events (Christchurch and Sri Lanka), the attackers were extremists, judgmental in the extreme.

The second similarity in the two charts is the Saturn/Pluto/south node conjunction in the 8th house (death) of the two charts. The Saturn/Pluto conjunction can be seen in cases of mass murder, such as was the case both in Sri Lanka and Christchurch. The Sri Lanka chart shows Jupiter in the 7th house, but not in major aspect except for a wide dissociate trine to the Sun/Uranus conjunction in Taurus in the 11th house, the latter showing the group effort of the perpetrators.

As for the remainder of the discussion on Sri Lanka, Mars was on the Ascendant in the first house within a degree and a half, and the two formed many midpoints, which prove most revealing, with the string of midpoint trees most active as follows: Asc=Sun/Pluto (the ruthlessness of others)=Saturn/Uranus (An act of violence, mourning and bereavement)=Uranus/Pluto (Fanaticism, an act of violence, the mania of destruction)=Sun/Saturn (separations and grief)=Mars=Ceres.

In addition, there is another string of midpoint trees with Chiron as the centerpiece, the most notable of which is the Mars/Saturn axis, the so-called ‘death axis’. This was an act that was precisely intended to cause the most possible destruction and pain upon the targeted parties, virtually all of who were innocents. Chiron is in the 10th house of the chart (public exposure and esteem) and is bounded on both sides by quintiles to Mars and Saturn, thus making that tree especially pronounced in its effects. Quintiles can be implicated in disastrous and obsessive events.

The stream of midpoint trees to Chiron and Mercury are quite chilling when taken as a synthesis: Mars/Pluto (The desire to realize plans fanatically, along with a tendency to proceed in a brutal manner, and violent assaults)=Uranus/MC (a sudden turn of destiny, big upsets)=Pluto/Asc (Violent disputes, quarrels, injuries, accidents, the desire to dominate other people’s minds)=Mars/Node (Quarrels and disputes within communities)=Mars/Saturn (Murderers, death in general, sometimes brutal or ruthless progress in life).

There is little need to cover much else about the chart, except for one factor, the Pisces Midheaven. The attacks took place on Easter, one of the holiest Christian holidays. The main thrust of the attacks were on churches, ruled by Pisces, with Pisces ruling resurrection and Easter in general. It was a despicable act of cowardice, and would be so no matter who happened to be the targeted culture. Pisces in its lowest expression also rules treachery.

The ruler of Pisces, Neptune (with Jupiter as co-ruler, referring to the attackers, previously), is in the 10th house of the chart square to Mars. The Mars/Neptune square points also to fanaticism, the ability to move the hearts and minds of people, and is found in the charts of religious and military leaders. It also points, in more destructive cases, to the misdirection or misuse of physical energy, the desire to harm others and self-destructive tendencies.

Mars had just gone out-of-bounds (OOB) on that very day. Mars OOB tends toward more violent events. Mars has been called the great avenger of the zodiac. At its height it can produce heroes and champions of a cause. At its worst it is the killing machine, thoughtless, merciless and fanatic. Its worst side was shown in this series of bombings. Among the victims were 45 children, nine of whom were foreigners. A Sri Lankan TV chef and her daughter died in one of the attacks. The CEO of Danish clothing retailer Bestseller lost three of his four children on that morning. It was senseless. It solved nothing. And the world has rightly condemned the acts.

After the atrocity a curfew was declared while the case was being investigated. The two afternoon bombings were thought to have taken place as two of the perpetrators fled. There were several other explosive devices found at various sites – one at the airport, a van with three bombs inside near St. Anthony’s Shrine, which was the site of one of the blasts, along with 87 items of bomb paraphernalia at the Bastian Mawatha Private Bus Station in Pettah. The death tolls could have been much worse.

But one thing that has added to the tragedy is that the authorities had prior knowledge a couple of days before that something was about to happen, but failed to prevent the attacks. This is reflected in the Mars/Neptune square in the chart (weakness of response). Initially the police inspector general came under heavy criticism for failing to prevent the bombings. Later it was revealed that communications between the various intelligence services had been weakened over the years, which had rendered exchange of the information ineffective. The government has vowed to restructure the security services in the coming weeks, but the events have damaged the prospects of the sitting government ahead of their coming elections this year sometime.

Religious leaders of all faiths have condemned the bombings and have called for solidarity. Sri Lanka is primarily a Theravadin Buddhist majority country (70%) with Hinduism and Islam being the next-most populace religions. Christianity is the smallest of the major religious demographic there at just over 7% of the population. Religious tolerance has been the norm there in recent years. It has been ranked the 3rd-most religious country in the world, with the great majority of its people saying that religion was a very important part of their lives.

Initial speculation about who was behind the attacks pointed to the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), but they have been defeated and largely re-integrated into Sri Lankan society since 2009. The more likely suspects are Daesh-related Salafist extremists, with vengeance being their prime motive. In the context of current world affairs the latter would seem to be closer to the truth. The investigation is ongoing. Both Islam and Christianity are ruled by Mars, as a matter of interest. The NTJ, cited previously, has been condemned by the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. All seven of the suicide bombers in the near-simultaneous attacks were Sri Lankan citizens associated with NTJ.

Since the attacks there have been worldwide shows of solidarity with Sri Lanka. That nation has enjoyed relative peace and religious tolerance since the end of their bloody civil war with the Tamils. The end of such violence as we have seen will come as the 6th ray dies out over the next decades and as the West halts its interventions in Islamic nations. But until that time the unity of the world’s religions must be stressed, rather than their differences, and in that way Mars will lose its sting, as the influence of Uranus and the emerging multipolar world order slowly takes hold. Vengeance for this attack must be avoided, the perpetrators brought to justice. May peace prevail in Sri Lanka for many years to come. May the victims and their families find peace.